Sunday, January 5, 2014

Tasty

I'm blessed. I'm surrouded by a supportive famiy and wonderful friends. Those beautiful people deserve a medal for putting up with me. Seriously, folks, I'm a pain in the ass. You know from reading this blog that I like to run...a lot. I like to talk. Sometimes I'm over the top (read this) enough that people label me as 'crazy'. Eh. Maybe so. Then there's the food side of me. I LOVE food and I'll try almost anything...within reason, of course. My lifestyle as of the past 10 months does not permit me to indulge in whatever I wish. No grain, people. That about sums it up. Yes, that's right - no pasta. Uh uh - I don't eat rice. Bingo - potatoes are out. All of the foods society has dubbed as 'amazing' don't usually fall into my scope of foods. That's cool, baby. I make my own amazing.

Asian Zucchini Noodles

Santa made sure I had all the tools necessary to make amazing dishes in 2014. He picked up this handy dandy spiral vegetable slicer. I have already mastered the art of zucchini noodles. After running two or three zucchini's throught the slicer, toss them in a colander with a healthy helping of salt. Place the colander in a bowl and let drain for 20 - 30 minutes. The slicer cleans up easily, too. I've also made this dish using cucumber. I was surprised at how well the vegetable held up. I'm a huge fan of Veri Veri Teriyaki sauce by Soy Vay.

I know. I know. It's not gluten free and it's not Paleo. I can handle a little bit of this every so often. Again, I'm a pain in the ass. Throw a little bit of this into a bowl...maybe 1/4 cup. Add a healthy dose of garlic powder and crushed red pepper. Wisk in one tablespoon of almond butter (I love Justin's) and a few splashes of rice wine vinegar.

Rinse the noodles thoroughly in water. Squeeze out any excess and add to the kicked up teriyaki sauce. Just like spaghetti, toss the noodles with the sauce. Add a sprinkling of roasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions to finish.

Volia!

I had this dish for both lunch and dinner today. Dinner was gussied up with the addition of six spicy, pan fried shrimp.

Curry Chicken Salad

I cannot take credit for this next recipe. This curry chicken salad has made a handful appearances at friends gatherings. My weekend craving required me to get the recipe. I mixed the shit out of it and brought it to a football party this past Saturday. I made sure to keep a stash home for future indulgence. Sadly, it's gone already.

I used Ina Garten's recipe, but made slight modifications. I didn't have the time to roast my own chicken as Ina, so I used rotisserie instead. I couldn't find the chutney she references, so I just grabbed a sweet mango chutney from the international aisle in my grocery store. Finally, instead of using raisins, I quarted large black grapes. Stupid sign said they were seedless...that was crap. Oh, well. The end result was yummy in my tummy.

I'm not a fan of all the mayo. Next time I'll cut 1/4 of the mayo with Greek yogurt. Maybe that'll work.